Bottle throwaway crown cap remover



1956 c. SCHMITZ 2,757,815

BOTTLE THROWAWAY CROWN CAP REMOVER Filed Jan. 7, 1955 INVENTOR C'arl/Jaluniiz ATTORNEY SlilS lg? BOTTLE THROWAWAY CROWN CAP REMOVER CarlSchmitz, Guttenberg, N. J.

Application January 7, 1953, Serial No. 330,029

'1 Claim. (Cl. 215-46) This invention relates to a bottle throwawaycrown cap remover and to a combination beverage bottle crown cap andthrowaway remover and has for an object to provide a throwaway crown capremover for use in connection with a conventional beverage bottle orcontainer and a conventional crown cap, and particularly to provide athrowaway bottle cap remover that is so inexpensive that it may beplaced over the lip of the beverage bottle and be supported on theshoulder therebelow without interfering in any way with the normalfilling or capping of the bottle, will not interfere with conventionalmachinery used in the filling and in the capping of the bottle, and whenused to remove the crown cap, may be left in position if the crown capis reused for temporary sealing of the bottle with part of the contentsstill remaining therein, and may be finally discarded and thrown away atthe same time that the crown cap is discarded and thrown away.

A further object of this invention is to provide a throwaway remover fora crown cap, which may be made inexpensively from suitable metal by asingle stamping and bending process, and which may be placed intooperative position on the beverage bottle by simply dropping it over thelip of the bottle, either before or after the contents has been placedin the bottle, and, of course, before the crown cap has been placed onthe lip of the bottle to seal it in the conventional manner by theconventional machinery.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved crown capremover, which enables the bottle to be opened with one hand by simplyplacing one hand around the neck of the bottle and placing ones thumbbeneath a projecting tongue of the opener and exerting upward pressure,whereupon the opener or remover will lift the crown cap off of the lipof the bottle.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention comprisesthe combination, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter setforth, claimed and disclosed in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the throwaway remover per se.

Fig. 2 is a side edge view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a bottle and crown cap thereon with thisinvention in position thereon.

Fig. 4 is a side plan view of the remover in operation.

There is shown at the throwaway bottle cap remover of this inventionconsisting of a flat annular ring 11 having a projecting tongue 12 atone side thereof.

The tongue 12 and the adjacent segment portion 13 of the annular ring 11is bent upwardly, as shown, and a segment portion 14 diametricallyopposite the segment portion 13 is bent downwardly, as shown. The innerdiameter of the annular ring 11 is sufliciently greater than thediameter of the bottle lip 15 that it will pass easily thereover ineither direction, and it is also lesser than the maximum diameter of thecrimped flange 16 of the crown bottle cap 17. Also, the inner diameterof the ring 11 is greater than the diameter of the bulge 2 or shoulder18 of the beverage bottle 20, which is located below the recess or necklip 21 into which the flange 16 is crimp'ed when sealing the cap 17 forclosing the bottle 20. I

As will be apparent from Fig. 3, the relationship of the inner diameterof the opening in the annular ring 11 is such to the diameter of thebulge or shoulder 18 that when the bottle cap 17 is secured by itscrimped flange 16 on the lip 11, the top surface of the fiat ring 11will be spaced slightly below the bottom edge of the crimped flange 16,thus, avoiding any possible interference with either the filling of thebottle 20 by conventional machinery, or with the operation of the normalcapping machine in crimping the flange 16 of the cap 17 into positionafter the remover 10 has been dropped over the lip 15 on to the shoulder18.

In addition to the advantage of having a bottle opener ready inoperative position when the bottle 20 is to be opened, thus, eliminatingthe necessity for any other bottle opener, this invention has theadvantage of providing easy one hand operation, thus, leaving the otherhand available for holding a glass or cup into which the contents of thebottle 20 are to be poured.

As shown in Fig. 4, the bottle 20 is grasped in ones hand 21 by placingthe fingers 22 about the bottle and placing the thumb 23 just below theprojecting remover tongue 12 and exerting an upward pressuretherebeneath. This has the effect of causing the bent down segmentportion 14 to act as a fulcrum on the adjacent portion of the bulge orshoulder 18 and of the projecting tongue 12 to act as a leverage handleand exert a lifting force under the adjacent portion of the crimpedflange 16 of the cap 17, causing this adjacent portion 16 to yieldsufficiently to permit the bottle cap 17 to be lifted and removed fromthe bottle 20. If the entire contents of the bottle 20 are immediatelyremoved, then, the cap remover 10 of this invention may be discardedalong with the cap 17, but if part of the contents are still left in thebottle 20, and the cap 17 is used for temporary rescaling, then theremover 10 will be left in position when the cap 1'7 is placedtemporarily back in position for re-use until the contents have beenentirely dispensed, and then, both cap 17 and remover 10 may be thrownaway and discarded.

Due to the fact that the lifting force is spread over a substantial areaof the crimped flange 16 instead of being concentrated in one point, ashappens with many conventional openers, the cap 17 is distorted to aminimum amount in being initially opened, and hence, is more eflectiveas a temporary reseal than is possible when the cap has been opened by aconventional opener, which concentrates its force at substantially onepoint.

While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail,it is obvious that this invention is not to be considered as beinglimited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes in detail andconstruction may be made therein within the scope of what is claimed,without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

In combination with a bottle having a bead adjacent its top, a flangeextending above said bead, and a crimped cap secured about said flange,a disposable opener loosely positioned between said bead and said capextending about said flange, said opener comprising a substantially flatannular ring encircling said flange, a segment portion of said ring bentupwardly at an obtuse angle to the body of said ring, a thumb engageabletongue having a leverage point adapted to bear against said cap, saidtongue being integral with said segment portion and coplanar therewith,a second segment portion of said ring directly opposite said tonguebeing bent downwardly 3 at an obtuse angle from the plane of said ringto form a fulcrum adapted to bear against said bead when said tongue ispressed upwardly to lift said cap from said flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS985,255 Forsythe Feb. 28, 1911 4 White Feb. 23, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTSGreat Britain Apr. 7, 1938

